So, I’m having trouble coming up with character names and I was wondering if you had any good suggestions
hey! love talking about this part of writing, thanks for asking!
so I don’t have any specific name suggestions for you, given I’m not sure who your characters are and what settings you’re putting them. but I’m happy to explain the process of how I name my characters for maybe some ideas on what you’d like to try, I can keep it short and sweet.
first of all, i like to know who my character is personality-wise before i give them a name, that way i can know what categories to choose from, all the way down to the first letter of the name. For example, in my sleeping beauty retelling, my “aurora” is named sigrid, because sigrid is nordic, which fits the setting she lives in, and means “beautiful victory.” it’s a nod to her being the sleeping beauty as well as her status as a warrior. in a different wip, I gave a character the name anne because she shares much in common with anne shirley from the green gables series. if you know what your character’s ethnic background is, who they are as a person, and where their story arc goes, it’s fun to name them based on their traits.
sometimes names are also picked just because you personally think they sound pretty, no other reason. in a wip about fae folklore, I have a character named paloma (which means “dove”), purely because I think that name is beautiful. sawyer from psalm 23 as a western got his name because “sawyer” is the most western-y guy name I could think of, and I like its sound.
another trick I like to use is naming my characters after characters from real-world mythologies. you have a sweet sunshine girl who loves her family? name her hestia, after the goddess of the hearth and home from greek lore. have a man who’s overly aggressive and needs therapy? thor from nordic myths is a perfect choice. you can pull from way more than just greek and norse mythologies, of course, those just seem to be the most culturally recognizable if you want someone to be able to catch your references. that’s part of the reason why I use both a great deal in so familiar.
something I’ve done and have seen others do is name their characters based on syllables (author holly jackson does this with each of her FMCs). you want 1 syllable? try meg. 2? how about anna. or 3? go for emily. that is more about rhythm than anything, but it’s helped me narrow down choices many times in the past.
and then, pull from everything around you. nothing is off limits. shakespeare, classic novels, stars and constellations, poisons, gemstones, plants, animals, insects, favorite films/shows, storm patterns, music, real locations, different time periods, disney, the Bible, etc. Go crazy! you can literally do no wrong here, it’s all up to you. having knowledge of the person you want your character to be just tends to help you take a step in the best direction ;)
